Too Funny

My kids are all watching Diego.

Josiah: How do ALL of the animals know Diego???

How do you answer that one??

Fall Fun 1

Fall Fun! 2

Back to Health!

Yeah, everyone is feeling better! Charis and Ella are home today as a precaution, but the are feeling great! Making a palace out of couch pillows right now. With periodic breaks to watch the Curious George Movie, of course. I might even go crazy and put clothes on them today. Although that could be a battle, because, I know if I had been in pjs for almost a week, it would be hard to take them off and put on clothes. They did get a bath last night and fresh pjs if you were wondering.

Olivia is on a field trip today to the theater. They were supposed to dress nicely. So my daughter, who usually dresses nicely, decided she wanted to wear her favorite shirt. Which would be okay, except she wore it yesterday. And spill dinner down the front of it. I just put my foot down. She tried to lift it a few times, but she is a tiny little thing so..... Anyway she finally left in clean clothes. A silky top shirt of black, pink and red flowers. Over top of a high school musical t-shirt. So Gabrielle and Troy are peeking over the top. At least it was clean, right??

REALLY???

I feel like my blog has been such a downer lately....unfortunately, this one is too. I've got four sick children. You heard me, FOUR!! Can you feel the panic???

It started with Olivia on Friday. By Sunday she was in Urgent Care. They did a flu test. No results yet. Because, what fun are the results (and being in UC for 5 hours) until after she is feeling better? She is feeling well enough to whine and fight with her siblings today. That has me thinking she is on the upswing.....

Or is would except the other three sicko kiddos are fighting too. Is it wrong to not medicate your kids for their fevers? (I'm just kidding, relax!) But when their fevers go up, they are much easier to deal with. When the fevers are down, the bickering begins. But when they are sick, it's not fighting over toys, no, we fight over the blanket and pillows and couch! (Wait a minute, they fight over the couch all of the time.....never mind.)

So last night, we got the kids to bed and settled in to watch The Amazing Race. Would you believe that it was an hour late???? Stupid football game. Grrrrrrr........

Well, time to go fill orders....snacks, drinks, get so and so out of whosits way....you get the idea. Apparently, by the complaints and the "mommmmmmmy's" from the other room, I am not meeting their every demand nearly quickly enough!

(Good thing God's given me a sense of humor!)

Starting to see some light....

Things are still really up in the air here, but the guidance we have been praying for is starting to emerge. Pray that we will travel the path the Lord has intended for us.

In Case You Were Wondering...

We're still a crazy as always around here! Always the hams, never missing an opportunity for a picture!

My Kiddos

The Amazing Race

Okay, if you know me at all, you know I love me some Amazing Race. Our household STOPS when it is on. The children are put to bed and threatened within an inch of their lives to stay there! It is the one night that I allow myself an evening snack. But that is not the race that I am talking about.

I'm talking about THIS race:

Acts 20:24

²⁴However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.

And recently the race has all been up hill. I think I'm halfway up the Rockies about now. I'm just feeling unsure of what our future is going to look like. Does the congregation at Grace want us to stay? We can't live on the salary so I will have to look for work. But where? And how do I maintain a house for 7 people, laundry, dishes, etc, for 7 people? It is a full time job for me now.

I've been so blessed to be available to my children during the school day. That probably won't be the case next year.

I'm not complaining, really, just ruminating. (I love that word!) Wondering what God has next on the map for my race.

There are some things that God has put on our hearts, real passions, and yet, I am not sure that they are open to us right now. In fact, I am sure they are not open to us right now. In HIS time, right?

So, right now I am going on faith, in a way I am not sure I ever have before

Hebrews 11:1

By Faith

¹Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

That is so hard sometimes! Kind of like in the Indiana Jones movie where Indy has to step out onto the pathway across the chasm. Sounds easy, except the pathway is not visible to the human eye.

My Answering Machine

Although, I guess it is technically my voice mail. Anyway, the light is blinking again or is it still? I've been home for over 4 hours and keep wondering if I should check it....or maybe not, it's a lot of work. And most of the time it is a recording of a recording. But what if it's really important? Oh the dilemmas that I have to wrestle with. My life is so difficult!

I'm Fired!!

Elliana: Mommy, you are fired!

Me: Really?

Elliana: Yes, call your mommy!

Me: Who will do all of the laundry and cooking?

Elliana: Nanny! (duh) That's why you are calling her!

Yeah, who' s the diva??

Some New Things At.....

Check them out at 4 Princess Bows

Clothes, Clothes. EVERYWHERE!!

Oh. my. goodness. I have been in the process of changing over from warm weather clothes to cold weather clothes. For. 5. Children.

Let me start by saying we have been incredibly, incredibly blessed with hand-me-downs. In 10 years and 5 kids, we have bought almost nothing except underwear (hee hee I said underwear! That would cause my children to collapse in giggles.) shoes and socks. It has literally saved us thousands of dollars I am sure. If you wonder if friends would be blessed by hand-me -downs, the answer is YES!! YES!! YES!! And we do pass the blessings on when ever we can.

This is more than pulling a few sweater out of some rubber bins. This involves going through dozens of bags of clothing to determine what will fit who this year. The boy is easy, keep the t-shirts and change to jeans, add a few sweatshirt. For the girls it is a major process.

Ella is soooo picky about clothes. She hates socks and hates to have anything around her waist. She would wear her summer dresses and sandals year around if I let her. Which I don't.....But I have given in on the socks issue. IF her feet get cold enough, I guess she'll wear them. AND don't tell my mother-in-law (whom I love dearly!) that you cannot catch a cold by not wearing socks. Unfortunately, the dress supply is not as abundant this winter as it was in the summer. Three days in a row, she has worn *gasp* pants. Up until now, she was known as 'the girl in the dresses' by several of her preschool classmates.

Charis, well, it's jeans all the way, baby. And that can be an issue when your waist is still a size 12 months and your legs are 4T tall! Thankfully, Olivia wore 4 Slims when she was 3 (Charis is 5 1/2) that are adjustable at the waist. I just cinch them as tightly as possible. (And they are still roomy!!)

Olivia.....I can't even begin to describe her fashion sense. She always looks adorable in what would look ridiculous on anyone else. The biggest problem for her is she needs a 4T in the waist and 7 in length....

Gracie? This year she'll wear whatever is in her drawer. But she's in 5th grade. I doubt I'll have that luxury for long. She was so excited today because she wore a new (to her) shirt to school. "MOM! Guess what happened when I got to school today? Some sixth grade girls came running up to me to tell me how much they loved my shirt!!!!" She was so excited!

So, I've gone through what was in the attic. A clothing monster threw up all over it. Now I am down to getting all of the summer clothes washed, and sorted out and put in the right bags, bins and boxes. The trick is getting it done before the kids rewear their favorites making them need washing again. How can someone who has a family of 7 hate laundry so much? Maybe that is WHY I hate laundry so much!

Do You Ever Wish God Would Show You His Planner?

Wow, I do. Life is changing and we don't know exactly how, but we know it is changing BIG TIME. We are spending lots of time praying for God to show us exactly where he wants us and what he wants us to do. We trust him, but we want to know what direction he wants us to take. Please pray for us!